Jul 31, 2012

Mermaids do not exist. No one knows
that better than Gene, who's scrounging out a living on the flooded
future Earth with salvage and smuggling jobs. He's traveled everywhere
with his AI companion, Stitch, and never seen anything more majestic
than a barnacled whale. So how and why did an honest-to-god mermaid get
stuck in his ship's exhaust port?

He has no idea what to do with
her, but she's frantically gesturing about something. So he takes her
to Carl Rance, a scientist on a sea station, who grows obsessed with her
beauty and mystery. Gene, too, must control his growing affection,
which conflicts with his bachelor lifestyle.

Before anyone
solves her mystery, an unknown silver ship attacks and destroys the
station. Gene narrowly escapes with the mermaid, becoming the only
person who can help her. But once Gene figures out what she wants,
she'll lead him to a secret the world isn't ready for. One that has the
potential to destroy the remnants of the planet.

MERM-8 is a
86,000 word science-fiction novel. I have been previously published in
Electric Spec, Flash Me, The Dunesteef, and received an honorable
mention in the 2010 Writers of the Future contest.